A/N hi guys…I was just re-reading this story to see if I should continue it and I think it is crap :) if you disagree then review it and tell me, if I get enough I will change back but if not I will assume no-one cares and continue this version… if you really want the original two chapters then PM me with an email address and I will just send them to you. Bye for now :)

p.s. I have probably added elements of "the old kingdom series" with the use of the monsters and other ideas

Pp.s. I own nothing except my laptop :) oh wait.. My dad owns the laptop :( I'll get back to you when I own something…

Pp.ss. my disclaimer… I do not own the old kingdom series, it belongs to Garth nix (if I did there would be a new book by now :)) I do not own card captors, code lyoko, shaman king, inuyasha, or any other elements you see in this story that you think… "Hmmm… I have seen that before… I wonder if I can use this to black mail or sue the author." 'Cuz you can't!! Mwahahah!! Sorry got a tiny bit carried away there…

The last cards…

Introduction

Authored by keroberos

The night this started was different for both of them. The master of the clow cards, Sakura Avalon was asleep dreaming of a dark place full of towers glowing red as the setting sun, but unlike the suns blood red colour there was no sense of beauty here, only death. For the team of adventurers named lyoko it was a bright and sunny day in Paris, but not where they were…

Ulrich ran on, taking the triangle point. Jessie, yumi, Mack, josh and tom were following on behind him with odd running just a little ahead. Suddenly several virtual "hands" swung out of the trees…

"Damn it! I didn't feel them coming!" shouted yumi

"Don't worry yumi, its not you x.a.n.a. just programmed them in, he's getting faster!"

"Can we cut the crap and sort them out?" shouted Ulrich who promptly jumped over a charging hand keeping his sword between his legs. The hand charged into it and the sword bit deep into its head. The misshapen mouth opened into a silent scream as the intricate markings along the sword glowed and shifted into its unloving skin, burning it away as Ulrich watched. It fell to the floor and Ulrich landed on top of it, the whole thing taking only seconds. He glanced around and saw that his unit were tackling the hands pretty well and that they could hold their own for a while but odd was a different matter. Odd's powers relied on him being far enough from the enemy that he was never in their immediate reach and now there were three surrounding him. Ulrich ran at them stabbing one right through its neck and twisting the blade to speed the burning up, and then before the others could react he had sliced ones head off and rammed his glowing blade deep into the creature's heart. As the marks finished dissolving what was left of the bodies Ulrich heard a cry from behind him, it was josh. One had had broken through the defensive ring and was now rushing at him. Odd fired three times and one arrow hit the monster driving the etchings deep into its side, but it got to josh to soon and bought its teethe around his head, its mouth opening impossibly wide to encompass josh's skull. Suddenly the boy's screams were cut off as the monster bit down.

"Jeremy did he make it?" shouted Ulrich, seemingly into thin air.

"Yes but he won't be fighting for a while, he has hands bite." Replied the thin air.

Hands bite, a condition that only results from being forcefully devirtualised by being bitten "critically" or enough to kill in real life. The conditions effect was repeated nausea bouts and mild halucigen, also behaviour changes have been noticed but these were less frequent. After a bite some people were ready to kick ass three days later and some never came back to the lyoko plant. Sometimes it depended on the severity of the bite, sometimes on the willingness of the person. Never the less people knew what they were getting into when they joined and knew even better when they were assigned to an elite group. Jeremy's team had fewer risks as they worked in real world on computers but Ulrich's team, knife 1, were nearly always in the middle of the fray, usually the cause and only combatants but still… knife1 also had the most casualties including three wounds so serious a devitalisation couldn't be attempted. Even though they were only in a computer world some people still though that because they had a hole in their stomach they should follow normal earth rules life pain and death, where as in actual fact they didn't have to. Some people still fought even though they had sword run through them, and still won. But others gave up and wouldn't let themselves believe they were o.k. it was just another one of the bugs in the lyoko system that hundreds of trained engineers, scientists and programmers worked 24/7 to fix… but even though there were problems the system was still much better than in the olden days. Back when lyoko had been a secret, there was only one supercomputer and only Ulrich, odd, yumi, aelita and Jeremy fighting x.a.n.a. but now x.a.n.a. had some new tricks and the lyoko team had new powers, help and they had the greatest gift of all. No wait… she hasn't arrived yet.

Sakura woke up… Sakura woke up again… after the third time she forced herself to stay awake and got out of bed. Last night had been hectic. She had finally fought yue and beaten him but only barely. Now she and kero were looking forwards to a well earned rest after caching all the clow cards. As she got dressed she wondered how long it would be before something else happened in her life that changed it forever.

"Sakura come here we need to talk to you!" a voice called from down the stairs. So not very long then…

When she had finished getting ready she went downstairs and started to get breakfast ready. As she did her father and older brother walked in. Sakura's father sat on the chair opposite her and started talking:

"Sakura have you seen the news? A giant white figure fighting here! Apparently it was flying and lots of weird things kept happening and still are and this has helped make up our minds. We are moving to France. Paris more specifically, you will go to Kodiak high and we already have an apartment set up and waiting, Julian has been very helpful in getting sorted out."

That was right, Julian and Madison had moved to France because Madison had wanted to go to Kodiak high, the best high school for media and filming courses, and Julian had always like France and so had moved there as well. Sakura would be going to the same high school as her best friend; it was perfect except for one thing that revolved around the little yellow bear who was probably still asleep upstairs…

When Sakura did go and check on kero she found that he was up and about acting like a teddy bear as she came in, but when he saw it was her he flew up on the small wings protruding from his back and hovered in front of her looking, as troubled as a small yellow furry bear with wings could. He didn't pull it off and Sakura had to stifle a laugh.

"Sakura we have a problem, the cards are pulling towards a different country and are telling me that there is still another task for you to do." He said looking more troubled than ever.

"Kero we can't go, dad says we are moving…" said Sakura, who still wondered what the task was and why she hadn't heard or felt anything at all.

"We have to go to France" they both said at the same time.